Our eyes are the most central, immediate way that we are connected to the world. There is a broadly accepted belief that sight is the privileged sense. Think about how often we use phrases like “A picture is worth a thousand words!” or the well-worn “See what I mean?” Consequently, it’s not surprising that the thought of eye surgery frightens a good number of people.

There has been a long history of cataract surgery, going back at least as far as ancient Rome, where archaeologists deduced that hollow needles were used to break up cataracts. Gratefully, treating vision problems with surgery has evolved since its earliest procedures, and the vast majority of eye surgery makes use of high-tech solutions that painlessly improve the vision of millions of patients.

There are two kinds of procedures commonly used to improve a person’s vision, PRK and LASIK. PRK stands for Photorefractive Keratectomy, and is used to configure the cornea, often using a unique type of laser called an excimer laser. This laser generates a kind of UV light that is able to remove tremendously fine layers of material without disrupting the rest of the eye.

LASIK also alters the cornea using the excimer laser, but does so by lifting up a flap and then modifying the inner layers of the cornea. Both of these surgical treatments are outpatient procedures with very little discomfort and are now considered standard options for correcting eyesight. In fact, LASIK is now the most frequently chosen elective procedure. It is effective, has an unbelievably low level of complications, and since it generally takes fifteen minutes or less, is a remarkable time investment for a lifetime of improved vision.

There are many different kinds of eye surgery, but PRK and LASIK are two of the most regular. If you are interested in taking the next step in repairing your vision, you should make a consultation with an ophthalmologist who will have you seeing things in a whole new light.

Obesity surgery has come a long way over the last few years and modern types of surgery such as gastric lap banding are without doubt much safer and have far fewer complications than early types of open gastric bypass surgery. Nevertheless, there are still risks and these ought to be fully discussed with your surgeon before you undergo surgery.

Gastric lap banding carries several risks that are specific to this type of surgery but also carries the same risks that come will any type of major surgery. Additionally, there are some general risks that are common to any surgery which involves patients who are severely overweight.

The first and most serious risk is that of death occurring either during surgery or immediately following and directly related to surgery. At this early stage (gastric lap band surgery has been around for approximately 13 years now and has only been licensed for use in the United States since 2001) there have been very few deaths reported and it is not easy to give a figure, though it is generally held that the risk of death from gastric lap band surgery is less than 1%.

One interesting thing to note is that in one Australian study no deaths were reported in a group of 2,700 patients who have had laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery since 1994. It should be noted however that Australia has been a leader in establishing the use of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band and that over ninety percent of all weight loss surgeries carried out in Australia are now using this method. This is important as, when you interpret the data from this particular study, you have to bear in mind that the experience of the surgeon is an extremely important factor in terms of both risk and complication. Surgeons with a great deal of experience with this technique show a far higher rate of success.

Many of the risks during the course of surgery are general as opposed to lap band specific and are common surgical risks to do with such things as your weight, age, reaction to anesthetic and the presence of disease (whether or not this is directly associated with your weight problem). The chief lap band specific risk during the course of surgery is that of gastric perforation (a tear in the wall of the stomach) which happens in about 1% of cases.

By far and away the majority of complications occur after surgery and the majority of patients will experience some form of complication in the weeks and months after their operation. These complications will not necessarily be serious and will range from very mild to quite severe.

Around half of all patients will suffer varying degrees of nausea and vomiting and in the region of one-third of patients will also suffer from regurgitation (gastroesophageal reflux). Roughly a quarter of patients will suffer band slippage and roughly one patient in seven will suffer a blockage of the passage between the two parts of the stomach.

Other mild to severe problems following gastric lap band surgery can include the erosion of the band into the wall of the stomach and leakage or twisting of the access port. Difficulty in swallowing, diarrhea and constipation are also quite common.

In a very few patients (under one percent) a whole series of non-serious difficulties can arise including gastritis, hiatal hernia, inflammation of the pancreas, dehydration, abdominal pain, gas, chest pain and infection.

Generally speaking lap band surgery, especially when performed laparoscopically, has fewer risks than other forms of weight loss surgery, but the risks are still substantial and need to be discussed in detail with your surgeon and understood before you take any decision to have surgery.

Nobody likes to have surgery, not even a cosmetic surgery. But we all want or need the results. A surgery can always cause damage and the outcome may not be as desired. If it comes to a surgery that is done for cosmetic reasons only, then you want to be sure that the results are perfect.

Most of us have seen a liposuction on television already. The doctor rams a needle into the body and sucks out the fat of the body. It doesn’t look gentle and it isn’t. That’s the traditional way of doing liposuction but there is a better way of doing it.

The so called tumescent liposuction adds some advantages to this procedure so that it becomes less invasive and much safer.

There are good reasons for having a tumescent liposuction. The recovery time is much shorter. While the traditional method requires a general anesthesia, the tumescent liposuction gets along with just a local anesthesia. The way the fat is removed causes much less blood loss and damage. These facts made the tumescent liposuction to the most popular liposuction nowadays.

So what makes tumescent liposuction so different? The only difference is that a lot of liquid is pumped in the targeted area, about three times of fluid than fat that is going to be removed. The liquid which consists of saline, epinephrine and lidocaine makes the capillaries shrink so that less blood loss is the result.

Once the fluid has caused quite a swelling the fat is removed by the inserted cannula. Since the fluid has caused the swelling, there is much more room now for the needle to do its work.

Once the surgery is finished, you recover more quickly. Usually it just takes less than 4 days to recover enough to go back to work. There is pain of course but it is not that big that it causes troubles.

The only disadvantage of tumescent liposuction is that it takes a little longer because of all the fluid that also has to be removed after the surgery is finished. But compared with the advantages it is still the better choice.

There are no special side effects of tumescent beside the ones you experience with any other surgery. These are bruising, swelling, scars, pain or numbness for example. All these effects should go away from alone after a while. There are other complications and your doctor will have a complete list of all possible negative outcomes. However, today liposuction is considered to be very safe.